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Blau Costa Verde 12/12/2005
Reviewers Rating:  Excellent
2005
Ex Maritim Costa Verde, this hotel had changed to the BCV at the beginning of May
[b]Flight:[/b] Manchester to Holquin, Monarch 330 airbus 8hrs 30mins from Manchester flight was OK we had 2 seats at the back of the plane which give you a little more room than the blocks of 3 seats leg room is minimum on monarch flights.
[b]Airport: [/b]
Inbound Passport and hand luggage check was reasonably quick. The suitcases took a while to come through and it was slightly chaotic but we changed some money while we waited and it took about 1hour to get through the airport.
Outbound: Once the initial chaos settled down it took just over 1 hour to clear customs. This was only slightly quicker if you booked VIP.
[b]Hotel Room:[/b] Check in took about 15 minutes. Ask for your safe key and your card for the towels when you check in. The room was ready (arrived at the BCV at 2pm) and a reasonable size, the rooms are equipped with a hairdryer, TV and a fridge with 2 cans of beer and orange and a bottle of water. This was not replenished at the end of the 2nd week. All rooms were given a card to replenish the fridge if needed. The air conditioning had 3 settings and worked well.
[b]Hotel Grounds:[/b] The grounds were very tidy and cleaned everyd day and were quite spacious. The stage area and the pool were close together this was not a problem during our stay as the hotel was not full. The beach was a 5 minute walk away and had a beach hut were you got your towels and snorkel gear and the bar opened from 10 to 17-30. Internet cost 3 CUC per half hour and was a decent speed, phone calls to Europe cost 4CUC.
[b]Restaurants:[/b] The buffet was very good and had a good assortment of food and the staff were friendly and efficient. There are 2 a-la-carte restaurants, Cuban and Italian. The service was excellent as was the food. They seemed to concentrate on the quality of the food rather than the way the waiters are dressed. The beach restaurant: this is set back at the end of the beach and is open for drinks 10 to 17-30 and food is served 12-30 to 14-30 with a choice of 5 set meals. Snacks are available from the poolside bar from 12 to13-00 and 16 to 17-00. In all the restaurants the staff were very friendly and could not do enough for you.
[b]Bars:[/b] There are 3 bars: piano bar, pool side bar and beach bar The staff in all of these bars were excellent especially one who served us with mojitoes as soon as our glasses were empty all night without us having to order them. Now that is what I call service. On most nights we watched the show from the poolside bar, the beach bar is used for the disco from 23 to 02-00.
[b]Animation/activities:[/b] The animation staff worked hard throughout the day and night especially with the audience participation which was a good laugh. I preferred the live bands especially the one that did rock through the ages. They sounded a bit like Santana. We could have listened to them all night. They had people dancing all round the complex. Throughout the day there were many activites: dance lessons, Spanish lessons, shooting, waterpolo, beach volleyball. Pedal boats, canoes, sailing, water skiing were available on the beach.
[b]Tours: [/b] We booked the Jeep tour through the hotel and I drove the jeep. There was only 2 jeeps on the day we went. This was a great day out which included jet-skiing, snorkeling, ox and cart ride, horse riding, a visit to a the place were Christopher Columbus landed, and a meal in a restaurant on farm (this is the official image of how they want you to think the Cuban farmers live). We were lucky enough to meet a very friendly taxi driver so we booked 3 days out with him. This worked out a lot cheaper than the official tours and gave us some idea of what the Cuban people are really like.
[b]Staff:[/b] All the staff at this resort are very friendly and a few words of Spanish go along way.
[b]Overall view:[/b] We enjoyed our stay at the BCV and would not hesitate to go back. The only fault we could find was that area in front of the stage could be bigger especially if the hotel is full.
V Lee
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